For many industrial processes various sheet materials such as packaging film, paper or foil are normally supplied to automatic machinery in roll form. With the advent of larger and faster packaging machinery, the rolls of packaging material have become larger, containing more lineal feet of material, in order to afford larger machine runs between roll changes. Such larger rolls of material, for example, may typically be approximately 24" in width and 30" in diameter, thus weighing as much as 500 pounds or more. Rolls of such sizes and weights cannot be easily moved or lifted manually, and thus a need arose for a power assisted mechanism to handle them efficiently. In addition, it was found that many packaging applications, such as in the food and medical industries required special handling devices that were sanitary, smaller, and more versatile than conventional fork-lift trucks heretofore used for general freight handling.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved device for lifting and transporting relatively heavy objects such as rolls of sheet material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device capable of being manipulated to remove a roll of material from a first location, move it vertically to a different level and transport it to a second location.
Another object of the invention is to provide a lifting and transporting device capable of automatically moving a relatively heavy roll of material vertically to a preselected level and also moving it horizontally to a desired location.
Another more specific object of the invention is to provide a lifting and loading device for heavy rolls of material comprised of a vertical column with a spindle extending perpendicularly therefrom for retaining one such roll and being movable up and down the column with a minimum of friction and/or deflection of components and within preselected vertical upper and lower limits.